‘Tenants can’t stay indefinitely without paying rent’

‘Tenants can’t stay indefinitely without paying rent’

 - The Times Of India

Aamir.Khan2@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:

The lockdown has paved way for a new type of litigation. A tenant, who got stuck outside the city during the lockdown, recently knocked the doors of a Delhi court seeking a stay fearing eviction from his rented accommodation. Though a relief was given to him by the court in terms of a status quo, he was asked to clear his rental arrears.

Experts opine though tenants have no legal right to stay without paying rent indefinitely, they do, however, have the option of moving civil courts or making use of “force majeure” or act of god.

“Plaintiff is held up in Bahadurgarh due to pandemic situation of Covid-19 and lockdown,” his counsel argued. The tenant also assured arrangement of funds immediately after the lockdown was lifted. Countering this, the landlord’s counsel stated that the tenant hadn’t paid his rent and other charges since February 2020.

In the opinion of senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, though the government has passed orders protecting the students, workers and migrants from being evicted for non-payment of rent during the lockdown, it is not a permanent feature.

“Tenants can seek extension of time for making payments of rent. However, they don’t have a legal right to continue to stay indefinitely without rent. If landlords threaten the tenants of eviction for nonpayment of rent during the lockdown, they can approach the civil courts for injunction and file complaints with the local police under relevant laws,” he says.

Advocate Nishant Kumar Shrivastava describes the relationship between the landlord and the tenant a legal one—regulated by the terms and conditions of the lease deed/rent agreement or, legally speaking, by the provisions of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 .

“However, if there is any such condition in the agreement wherein the tenant is given the freedom to not to pay any rent in an eventuality like the present pandemic, then the landlord will have to act as per the consequences,” Shrivastava explains.

Force majeure is an unprecedented situation which is beyond human control. A force majeure clause is invariably incorporated in contractual agreements between landlords and tenants and relieves parties from performing their contractual obligations during the course of such events.

But such a clause, feels advocate Arpit Bhargava, can be instrumental in allowing a tenant to seek a suspension of rent or revision/renewal of conditions of lease deed with mutual consent in situations like the present pandemic. “The same shall be applicable only if due notice has been given to the landlord/lessor,” he adds.

Advocate Manish Makhija thinks in the current situation, payment of monthly rent should be decided via a personal negotiation between a landlord and a tenant.